Very creative with adding a 1 in there and with a text mail account, they will never answer the phone, which is another reason to be cautious with someone who can only communicate through email.  

I would like to introduce these features to improve efficiency and rent collection.

I'm seeing relationships and communication be the common denominator here.

Rehabs need to be efficient; quick time table, stay on budget and high quality workmanship.

WHICH ones do you like, that have communications Built-in, through an APIs, and can track response of marketing outreach programs like text messages?

The amenities may be basic but the service should be class-A.have a worldview that is empathetic to poor people- ie they don't believe that poor people are poor because they make bad life choices; actually RESPECT THEIR (D-neighborhood) TENANTSdoesn't have the unrealistic expectation that low credit score tenants will respond to incentives designed for tenants with a credit score to protect and sets payment policies to promote desired tenant payment behaviors for low credit score tenantsprefers to achieve goals by eliciting cooperation instead of the exercise of power;communicates clearly and directly (even on 'awkward' topics like money and complaints about 'peculiarities')likes to solve problemsHaving said all that, I would still recommend B neighborhoods if you can afford it because of appreciation (and as @Erik Whiting said, exit strategy) .

They had very little to no communication with us.

Also, I think there are investors you can start to communicate with and potentially invest with on Bigger Pockets.

@Sam Leon I know that one of my tenants is out of work and she communicated as much to me with the April rent.

In fact many, if not most notes are bought, sold, traded as investors try to employ their capital for maximum efficiency within their risk preferences.Now, their are some owner financing options referred to a contract for deed, which is indeed a different animal.